MYTH: Young people entering the workforce will have the requisite skills necessary to meet the technological and literacy demands of a modern workplace, and will effectively fill the spots previously filled by the Baby Boomer.

FACT: Employers face a workforce with fewer young people aged 20 to 39 than in the past. Furthermore, the forecast is for a decline in the share of that age group from 32% in 1996 to 26% in 2015. Conversely, those aged 50 to 64 will increase from 14% to 21% over the same period. Employers will need to train and retrain workers already in the labour force (The Economic Benefits of Improving Literacy Skills in the Workplace, Conference Board of Canada, 2007). Additionally, youth require upgrading, with more than one third of Canadians age 16 to 25 having low literacy (International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey, Statistics Canada, OECD, 2005).